The Ultimate Rabbit Air Minusa2 Review
Rabbit Air MinusA2 is the flagship of Rabbit Air purifiers whose products are designed and distributed by Rabbit Air. Although a relative newcomer in the air purifier industry and is not yet as highly popular as the air purifiers made by the US home appliance manufacturers such as Whirlpool, Honeywell, and so forth are, Rabbit Air air purifiers have been known as affordable modern air purifiers which do a good job purifying indoor air.
The Rabbit Air MinusA2 is the high-end product of the Rabbit air purifier line and can be customized in different ways to alleviate mild to moderate problems associated with :
- pet allergy
- lower immune system
- gas/chemical contamination (particularly useful for people who just get the house painted or carpet replaced).
- odor or smoke
The company is also very responsive to the customer’s needs, hence earning Rabbit Air products, including Rabbit Air MinusA2 glowing reviews from customers on internet customer review sites.
In short, Rabbit Air Minus A2 is special because: it’s effective, affordable, full of modern conveniences, and is supported by a superb customer service from Rabbit Air company.
Rabbit Air MinusA2 Reviews – How It Works.
The first step in evaluating the effectiveness of an air purifier is to look at the air purification system employed by a particular air purifier, in particular, whether a series of mechanical filtration system is present. If that is present, then we can have a look at the quality of the filter itself, for instance, whether a true HEPA filter is used or not.
Then, and only then, we should look at other purification mechanism, since this other purification mechanism is mostly additional.
From the first glance, we could expect Rabbit Air Minus A2 series to be an air purifier with serious capability just by looking at the filtration system it employs :
- Rabbit Air MinusA2 has a series of good quality mechanical filtration system. Each filter addresses different sizes of air particles.
- Prefilter stage: This washable prefilter is designed to retain the biggest particulates, including pet hair, visible dust, and mold. The presence of the prefilter also prevents subsequent, more expensive filters to become clogged up prematurely by the big particulates.
- Medium filter stage: This yearly or biyearly replaceable filter deals with medium-sized particulates (1 micron and up) which captures more dust particles and mold in addition to pollen and bacteria.
- HEPA filter stage: The BioGs HEPA filter is unique of Rabbit Air purifier and has been enhanced by antimicrobial silver lining. This filter is very efficient in trapping particles up to 0.3 micron, after which its efficiency decreases.
- Rabbit Air MinusA2 is equipped with customized filter specifically to to address a certain problem.
As alluded above, when buying a Rabbit Air Minus A2 air purifier, you can customize it with the following filter to alleviate certain problems.- The Germ Defense filter.
This filter is very useful if you have a member in your household which can get ill easily because of germs, including babies and older people, or if you have an immuno-compromised person living in your home. - The Pet Lover filter.
Pet lovers can opt for a Rabbitair Minus A2 air purifier with a pet lover filter, which is formulated to optimize the filtration of pet dander (pet’s shed skin), pet hair, pet odors, and germs living in pet. Unfortunately, the company does not give any information whether the pet lover filter contains additional carbon or gas absorber over what is provided by the general Rabbit Air carbon filter. When an air purifier claims to reduce odor, usually it is a result of combination of having a HEPA filter and gas absorber, most notably activated carbon. Since the amount of carbon filter is pretty light (see below), if you have a severe odor problem and are looking to get a pet lover filter because of the odor, then it could be better to get the Rabbit air purifier with deodorizer, since this air purifier definitely has additional gas absorber. - The Toxin Absorber filter.
The toxin absorber is designed to remove inorganic gases and toxins, such as new carpet and paint offgasing. Unfortunately, there is no further information from Rabbit Air as to what is contained in their toxin absorber filter. But it should included chemical filter such as permanganate for it to be able to filter inorganic gases. - Deodorizer.
The deodorizer contains additional carbon filter to remove odors and smoke quickly and effectively. If you have a mild to moderate smoke problems, this is the customized filter you should get. However, it might not be suitable for people with severe smoke problems. In order to address severe smoke problems, you would need an air purifier with a strong carbon filter like these smoke air purifiers.
- The Germ Defense filter.
- Activated Carbon Filter.
The activated carbon filter is useful as a gas absorber. With 1.5 lb honeycomb carbon filter, this air purifier is undoubtedly equipped to remove volatile organic gases. However, since the carbon is pretty light, don’t expect it to remove odor instantaneously, nor to remove high load of cigar smoking effectively. You would need to get the deodorizer filter to address more severe smoke problems. - Additional ionizer (optional).
The ionizer helps capturing more small particles by sending out charged ions, which will cling to the air particulates, dragging them to floor or wall surfaces. This way, those air particulates can be swept away and cease being airborne.
Other Positive Features of Rabbit Air MinusA2 SPA-700 and SPA-780
- Most buyers of the Rabbit Air air purifiers are reportedly happy with their purchase and assert that the purifier works really well in cleaning the air. Of the feedback being received, there is almost a 98% positive rating for the Rabbit air products. Not surprisingly, the attention Rabbit Air gives to each customer concern is overwhelmingly detailed. Not one complaint was left unaddressed. This is probably the reason for such high positive rating. RabbitAir MinusA2 700 for 700 sq.feet
- In common with other Asian-made air purifier, the Rabbit Air purifier is a lot more quieter than its other branded counterparts which tend to be very noisy. In fact, customers only notice the sound when it is set in turbo mode. This is definitely the air purifier to get for your bedroom as it is a very quiet purifier.
- Rabbit Air air purifier is much more stylish and easier on the eye. You can even mount it on the wall. RabbitAir MinusA2 -SPA780A (815 sq. feet)
- Safe. Although it has an optional ionizer, the machine emits zero ozone, a lung-irritant gas. However, people with serious chemical sensitivities need to know prior of buying this air purifier, that the casing is made of plastic. This means, that there could be some offgasing occur.
- Rabbitair MinusA2 air purifier has automation technology if you prefer it. Rabbit Air MinusA2 SPA-700 and SPA-780 have different kind of mode of operation: manual, auto, sleep, and pollen. You can only change the fan speed in the manual mode. In automated mode, the machine’s fan speed is adjusted automatically according to the quality of the indoor air as determined by its air quality or dust sensor. This means that it will go to a higher speed when it detects impurities being introduced in the air, then lowers again when the air is clean. When the light is off, it is detected by the light sensor and this sends the machine into the sleep mode. While in sleep mode, Rabbit Air MinusA2 makes sure that the fan’s noise and other light is kept at the minimum. The drawback of this is when you live with a smoker who smokes with the light off. The only way to ensure the machine is on while a smoker smokes in darkness is by putting it in manual mode, and set the fan’s speed manually and keep it that way.
- The machine is energy efficient, consuming as little as 8 watt at the lowest speed and 47 watt at the highest speed. This efficiency is better than the more basic BioGS series.
- Your Rabbit Air purifier is protected with 5 year warranty and superior technical support.
- Remote control and timer are available.
- Super easy filter change. Just plop the unit open, take out the old filter and put in the new filter. No screwdriver is needed. No stacking or filter wrapping is required. The unit also has a filter sensor, so there is no guessing when a filter needs changing.
- Child proof. Everytime the front panel is opened for either filter change or sweeping, the unit automatically shuts down to prevent electric shock.
Things You Should Know Before Buying RabbitAir Minus A2 Air Purifier
- Filter replacement cost.
It is important to know before hand, that depending on usage, you may need to replace the medium filter, HEPA filter, carbon filter, and customized filter yearly. In fact, if you use the machine at least 12 hours/day, you’re looking at replacing these filters at least every year. At $75 a year, it’s pretty at the high end of filter cost. - Mood Light.
The company claims that the mood light in Rabbit Air MinusA2 can decrease the blood pressure and improve the mood. We find this claim outrageous and are genuinely surprised to find that a company with such a good product resorts to this sort of marketing claim. - Antimicrobial lining on the filter.
Rabbit Air filters are laced with nano silver, an antimicrobial agent, which, the company claim to be able to prevent flu. Contrary to its claims though, we think that the presence of such filter will not prevent you from getting the flu or any other airborne disease because germs are mainly spread from person-to-person contact. So, if you’re sitting next to a person with flu in a room with an air purifier, don’t think that the germs won’t get to you, because chances are the germs will get to you first before they are drawn into the air purifier. The purpose of a germicidal HEPA filter, is therefore, to make sure that when germ-containing air is drawn into the machine, germs are filtered and killed. This will prevent the filter from becoming a germ farm, so to speak. This is also true for the germ defense customized filter which is laced with ginkgo biloba. Studies from Tsukuba University in Japan which have shown that the Germ Defense Filter reduce the presence of the influenza virus on the filter surface merely showed the fact that the filter itself, and not necessarily the room where the filter is placed, became cleaner once the antiviral agent is applied. - Room size suitability.
With CADR of 208 (pollen), 200 (dust), and 193 (smoke) for the 780 series, we think that this Rabbit Minus A2 will not have its optimum effect if placed in a large 800 square foot room as recommended by the manufacturers, even when running continuously on high speed. First, most people will not run it on high because of the noise and electricity concerns. And second, when run in an 815 sq. feet room, it will only provide 2 air changes/hour. Although in general it’s recommended to aim for at least 2 air changes/hour, unless you have a premium air purifier like IQAir or Blueair, we think it’s better to run an air purifier to achieve 4-6 air changes/hour. This way, it will have a better cleaning capability, especially for those with chronic allergy or respiratory illnesses. We think for those people, running the Rabbit Air MinusA2 SPA 780 in around 300-400 sq feet room, or the SPA700 in 250-350 sq. feet room would be better if a health benefit is to be achieved.
Bottom Line …
Bottom line, Rabbit Air MinusA2 SPA 700 and 780 are good air purifiers for their prices. In fact these are the only air purifiers which manage to successfully marry a superb purification technology with look, price, and convenient modern technology.
Having said that, we still think that these air purifiers are still not the best in air purifier industry. If you have a severe problem to alleviate, we still recommend either Blueair or IQAir purifiers which are more expensive, but are more powerful and effective. However, Rabbit Air MinusA2 air purifiers do an exceptional job to address problems most people have, which is having mild to moderate allergy or asthma problems.
We recommend these air purifiers if you have mild to moderate health or other air problems you need to alleviate. We think you will be very satisfied with your purchase.